Sonderdienst were founded on 6 May 1940 by GauleiterHans Frank who was stationed in occupied Kraków.[1] Initially, they were made up of ethnic German Volksdeutsche who lived in Poland before the attack and joined the invading force thereafter. After Operation Barbarossa began in 1941, they also included Soviet prisoners of war who volunteered for special training, such as the Trawniki men (German: Trawnikimänner) deployed at all major killing sites of the "Final Solution". Many of those men did not know German and required translation by their native commanders.[2][3]: 366 The Abteilung Sonderdienst (Department of Special Services) was subordinate to Oberkommando der Wehrmacht sabotage division under Colonel Erwin von Lahousen (1 September 1939 – July 1943), and Colonel Wessel Freytag von Loringhoven (July 1943 - June 1944).[4]
Background
Sonderdienst battalion in occupied Kraków, July 1940GauleiterHans Frank and Sonderdienst leaders in Kraków, 1941.
The Republic of Poland was a multi-ethnic country before World War II, with almost a third of its population comprising minority groups: 13.9% Ukrainians; 10% Jews; 3.1% Belarusians; 2.3% Germans and 3.4% Czechs, Lithuanians, and Russians. Members of the German minority resided predominantly in the lands of the former German Empire but not only.[5] Germans in particular were hostile towards the existence of the Polish state after losing their colonial privileges at the end of World War I.[6] German organizations in Poland such as Deutscher Volksverband and the Jungdeutsche Partei actively engaged in espionage for the Abwehr, sabotage actions, weapons-smuggling and Nazi propaganda campaigns before the invasion.[7] In late 1939 through spring of 1940 the German Volksdeutscher Selbstschutz took active part in the massacres of civilian Poles and Jews.[8]
Some 3,000 men served with the Sonderdienst in the General Government.[2] After the Nazi German conquest of eastern Europe, known as Operation Barbarossa, GruppenführerGlobocnik eagerly sought another source of manpower. The citizens of these countries who spoke German became highly valued because of their ability to communicate in Ukrainian, Russian, Polish and other languages of the occupied territories.[9] The training of non-German European auxiliaries was arranged at the Trawniki concentration camp by SS-HauptsturmführerKarl Streibel. Instructed by Globocnik to start recruiting behind the front lines of Operation Barbarossa, Streibel trained 5,082 mostly Ukrainian guards before the end of 1944. They were organized into two new Sonderdienst battalions.[10] According to the postwar testimony of SS-OberführerArpad Wigand during his war crimes trial in Hamburg, only 25 percent of them even spoke German.[2]
^ abcdefBrowning, Christopher R. (1998) [1992]. "Arrival in Poland"(PDF). Ordinary Men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland. Penguin Books. pp. 51, 98, 109, 124. Archived from the original(PDF) on 19 October 2013. Retrieved May 1, 2013.
^Andreas Altenburger (2012). "Abteilung Abwehr II Sonderdienst". Amt Ausland / Abwehr (A. Ausl./Abw.) (in German). Lexikon der Wehrmacht – Amt Ausland / Abwehr. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
^Wojciech Roszkowski (4 November 2008). "Historia: Godzina zero". Tygodnik.Onet.pl weekly. Archived from the original on May 12, 2012. Retrieved 18 May 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
^ abHolocaust Encyclopedia. "Trawniki". United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Permission granted to be reused, in whole or in part, on Wikipedia; OTRS ticket no. 2007071910012533. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
^Mgr Stanisław Jabłoński (1927–2002). "Hitlerowski obóz w Trawnikach". The camp history (in Polish). Trawniki official website. Retrieved 20 May 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)